State government will give priority for improving public transport system: K T Rama Rao

The State government is examining the possibility of developing an elevated Bus Rapid Transport System or a tramway between JNTU junction and Hitec City to ease traffic on the stretch. Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao said the State government will give priority for improving public transport system as part of the recently announced Hyderabad Urban Agglomeratrion project with a massive budget of Rs 10,000 crore.

Responding to questions raised by the legislators in the State Legislative Assembly during the Question Hour on Wednesday, Rama Rao stated that efforts are being made to expand the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) operations. 

He said a detailed project report is under examination for the proposed Airport Metro Express corridor and a decision in this regard will be taken soon. Proposals have been already sent to L&T for introducing passes for Hyderabad Metro Rail for convenience of regular commuters as well as plans are afoot to extend the Metro Rail operations for an extended hours.

The Minister said HMR was one of the world’s largest metro rail project in public-private partnership. About four lakh passenger were travelling in the Metro Rail everyday. To provide last mile connectivity, the HMR is collaborating



with TSRTC and also setting up last mile feeders as well as bicycle stations. “To address the parking problem, we have already provided space for 20,000 two-wheelers and 400 four-wheelers. Efforts are on to construct 20 multi-level car parking lots and tenders will be invited shortly,” he added.

The Centre’s contribution for HMR project was only 10 per cent of total Rs 14,500 crore i.e. Rs 1,450 crore towards viability gap funding, where the Centre is yet to release Rs 2,500 crore, he added.

Replying to another question, Rama Rao said the 5 km stretch of Corridor-II of Metro Rail project between MGBS and Falaknuma in the Old City was under progress, while the rest of the Phase-I of the project has been completed.

He stated that 93 religious and sensitive structures were existing on this stretch and 18 of them, were to be affected due to road widening and Metro Rail alignment.

“However, we saved all these structures through engineering solutions. We will soon take up land acquisition for the projects and seek the cooperation of the local MLAs in resolving issues arising out of it for smooth progress of the project,” he told the Old City legislators.